


Swinging Blindly

by Slipsy



Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: M/M, TBA - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:27:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26234854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slipsy/pseuds/Slipsy
Summary: The Batter is, unsurprisingly, very good at baseball. Zacharie changes things up a little.
Relationships: The Batter/Zacharie
Comments: 8
Kudos: 48





	Swinging Blindly

**Author's Note:**

> i said i was writing bigger things i wasnt lying im just slow

“So, Batter, how good are you at baseball?” Zacharie asked nonchalantly as the sportsman looked through his wares.

“As good as you'd expect.” The Batter replied monotonously, weighing up a shining metal bat in his hands. “What's it to you?”

“I was just curious. A spectre and a baseball don't share much in common.”

“They share enough in common for me.” Batter let a hint of a smile slip onto his face as he took a swing with the new bat. “I'll take this one.”

“200 credits. And I want to play some baseball with you.” Zacharie chuckled as the Batter reached into his pocket, then halted.

“Why? And anyway, you can't play baseball with only 2 players.”

“Well, yes, but I can pitch for you and you can hit it.” Pulling a ball from the depths of his personal bag, he threw it into the air a few times before pulling back as if to throw. Batter instinctively took a defensive stance due to the small distance, but Zacharie just laughed. “200 credits first.”

\---

“This will do!” Zacharie cheered.

“If I break one of those office windows, it's on you.” The Batter mumbled, but took up position on one side of the moderately open space nonetheless. “Step back further. Further. There, now you can pitch.”

“Aren't you fussy?” Zacharie teased, chuckling when the Batter gave him a stern look.

“You wanted to play baseball, I'm telling you how to play. Pitch.”

The Batter didn't even bother to swing when Zacharie threw the ball underarm towards him, instead opting to nudge the ball back at him with the end of his new bat.

“You're kidding, right.”

“Well, yes and no, I figured it was a small area, so maybe I shouldn't throw it as hard?” Zacharie laughed sheepishly, bending down to pick the ball up and stepping back a little. “Okay, overarm this time.”

“You don't need to clarify that.” Batter sighed, hand coming to cover his face as the most pitiful pitch he'd ever seen once again bounced quite harmlessly off his lowered bat. “Okay, look-” He dropped his bat where he stood and scooped the ball up instead, pacing over to where the other man stood. “You put your whole body into it. Ready-” He started, pulling his knee up, and lunging forwards into a powerful throw that hit the wall of the far offices with a loud thwack. “Like that.”

Zacharie looked from the Batter to the wall, then back to the Batter. “I hope you don't expect me to do that.”

“...Well, I'd hope you would.”

He laughed. “Sure, okay. Can I get another demonstration?” 

The Batter sighed, jogging off to pick the ball up. Zacharie wiped his brow nervously as the Batter returned, huffing in amusement. 

“Can you maybe... do it slowly. Give me a chance at least.”

“...First, bring your knee up, arm back. You're going to swing your leg around for leverage...” Batter demonstrated slowly, balancing rather nimbly on one foot as Zacharie crossed his arms and tried to memorise every movement he was making. “Arm comes over, step down... Following?”

“Yes. I think.” Zacharie had to admit, it was nice for Batter to be just a little passionate for once.

“Alright, then you follow through with the motion, release when your arm is about here, come up onto the other foot so you're not wasting any of that motion until the ball has left your hand. So, all at once. Knee up, swing round, release.”

“You look like a ballerina.” Zacharie laughed, flinching as the Batter righted himself and tossed the ball towards him. As he fumbled to catch it, the other man walked back to where his bat lay on the floor. With one swift bend, he scooped the bat up and turned to Zacharie.

“Do a few practice throws before you release the ball. Go through the motions.” Batter suggested, pinching the bat between his knees as he casually stretched and shook his arms out. “A warm up will go a long way.”

“I know how to work out, amigo~” Zacharie smiled, pulling from his memory the movements the Batter had made prior.

"Good. Twice more." He called across the field, plucking his bat from it's hold and readying to swing. Zacharie went through the motions once more, and then took a few steps back.

"Alright, this time I'll throw. Here we go! Fuc-" Zacharie released the ball way too early, throwing it upwards where it fortunately bounced between two third floor office windows. Batter paced a few steps, before catching the ball straight out the air with one hand. "Sorry." Zacharie snickered as he shook his hand off from the impact of the hard ball.

"It's alright, you'll get there." He threw the ball towards Zacharie and walked back to where he was standing before, massaging the palm of his catching hand with his other thumb for a moment before readying up again.

"Is your hand okay?"

"Yes. Pitch."

"If you say so. Release here?"

"Later. Much later."

"Ok. Here goes." This time, the ball came straight towards the Batter, almost too well. He thankfully ducked below the projectile before it could give him a concussion, glaring at Zacharie who was bent over double and making both sobbing sounds and laughing as hard as he'd ever seen. "I'm so sorry, I- ah ah!" He looked up to see the Batter approaching him, and covered his face with both hands. "Who knew I would be the next spectre to threaten the Zone and it's Purifier, ah ah-"

Batter came to stand alarmingly close to Zacharie, and he had to admit he was a little worried about why, jumping a little when a hand came to rest on his shoulder. "Good throw. More to the right next time." He dropped the ball at Zacharie's feet given that he seemed incapable of taking the ball from him at the moment, returning to "home base". 

After a moment, Zacharie slipped one hand under his mask to wipe away the tears of laughter and shook himself out. "Alright. More to the right. My right or yours?"

"Your right. Towards my bat."

With a nod, Zacharie pitched, throwing the ball to the entirely wrong side.

"I said your right."

"I tried! It feels unnatural."

Batter sighed. After throwing the ball back to Zacharie he took his bat in his other hand, taking a few experimental swings on the other side. "Try now."

"You're going to play left handed?" Zacharie questioned.

"No, this is a right handed grip. I was playing left handed originally."

"Wait... so when you demonstrated pitching, did you also do that left handed?"

"...Yes." Batter responded sheepishly. "I forgot to switch hands to demonstrate for you."

"That explains it!" Zacharie exclaimed, passing the ball to his other hand and taking a practice throw. "Yes, that's more like it!"

Batter rubbed his neck awkwardly. "Sorry."

"No, no, it's fine! Go back to left handed batting, I can do this."

Batter turned around with a barely audible sigh of relief, shifting his hands to match and nodding to Zacharie. Zacharie pitched, Batter swung, and with a loud crack the ball flew across the field, bouncing off what could only have been an 8th floor office wall with enough force to bounce back and threaten Zacharie as it landed.

"Ah ah! That was a brilliant swing, amigo!~" Zacharie laughed, picking up the ball from where it had landed not a metre away from his feet when it bounced back. The Batter shrugged, but it was obvious from his inflated stance that he felt just a little prideful. "Again?"

"Ok." Batter readied his bat once more, hopping back a step as Zacharie lobbed the ball particularly close to him. A swing, a crack, and the awkward angle sent the ball over a relatively short office building to the side. Zacharie couldn't help but marvel as Batter quickly summoned an Add-On, which shot after the ball and returned a moment later with the ball rather incredibly looping the inside of the thin ring, like a reverse hula-hoop.

"That's incredible." He smiled as the ball fell out of orbit towards him, and he caught it haphazardly with both hands. The Add-On was quickly dispelled afterwards, and the Batter couldn't help but smile as Zacharie looked to him in awe. "You've really connected with the Add-Ons, haven't you?"

"Naturally. One needs to be connected to their team in order to work efficiently together. Pitch."

Another throw, another crack. The ball hit almost the exact same area of the office block opposite, this time with more force as it bounced back closer to the Batter than it did to him.

"That's consistent. Maybe we should make it harder..." Zacharie laughed, the Batter tilting his head in curiosity. After a moment of thought, he slipped his bag off his shoulder and quickly rummaged around. "What are you like blindfolded, eh?"

"It makes no difference. The Player controls me; obstructions of my own vision do not affect their guiding light."

"And when your player is not present?" Zacharie smiled. The Batter hesitated.

"...Then yes, blindfolds do affect me."

"And I'm right to assume that presently you are alone, hmm?"

"...Yes." The Batter sighed.

"Interesting." Zacharie smiled, pulling a long strip of cloth from inside his seemingly bottomless bag and walking over to the Batter, who hesitantly lowered his bat for a moment.

"I'll tie it." The Batter insisted, reaching out to take the material from him and tentatively holding it up in front of his eyes for a moment. He huffed, then pulled it around his head and tied a swift knot in the back. Picking the bat up from the ground again, he gripped at the handle firmly, but hesitated to raise it. "Zacharie?"

Zacharie thought for a moment before gently putting one hand on his shoulder, just to let the Batter know where he was. "Yes?"

"You'll have to tell me when you release the ball."

"Of course" He patted Batter's shoulder. "I'm going to go over to the other side of the field now."

By the time Zacharie had walked back to where he had been throwing from, the Batter had readied himself, albeit head hanging low as if in deep focus rather than looking at him.

"Ready?"

"Yes." The Batter mumbled.

"Alright. Throwing... now."

Against most odds, the Batter still hit the ball, though it bounced rather harmlessly off the top edge of the bat and rolled past him. He visibly huffed a relieved sigh, lowering the bat and gently touching the blindfold with his fingers. He whipped round when Zacharie started walking towards him, but calmed himself after a moment. 

"You alright?" Zacharie laughed.

"Yes."

"You're a little jumpy."

"I'm.... Hyper-aware. It's uncomfortable." The Batter sighed, 'watching' as Zacharie walked past him to pick the ball up.

"We can stop if you want." Zacharie asked.

"No."

Zacharie turned to look at the Batter behind him, who had stopped looking back to him to face straight forwards again. He looked lost but determined, mouth pressed shut in a thin line as he rotated his bat in his hand.

"If you're sure." He smiled, not that the Batter could see, picking the ball up. 

Two more throws, two more hits. Zacharie wanted to say it was his great throwing, but the Batter seemed to have calmed down a little without his vision and his swings had grown in confidence again.

"That went forwards that time! Pretty far, too." Zacharie called as the Batter hit another swing. "Getting used to being blindfolded?"

"...Yes." The Batter sighed, tugging the fabric back into place from where it had shifted over time.

"You don't have to keep the blindfold on all the time, you know. Do you want to see how far the ball went?"

"...No" 

"Oh?" Zacharie queried, glancing over to the Batter. He was once again looking straight ahead, hands clasped together on the end of his bat planted in front of him. "Well, if you say so." He picked up the ball and jogged back to his spot, but the Batter didn't move. "...Ready?"

"...Yes." The Batter responded hesitantly, without moving.

"You don't look it."

"Give me a moment." He mumbled. Eventually, he picked the bat up and turned quickly to prepare to swing. "Pitch."

"You're acting very weird, but OK. Throwing... now!" Zacharie watched as the Batter swung, hit, and then quickly brought his hands back to his front. "What are you hiding? OH-" The realisation hit Zacharie as hard as the Batter's head turned to face him. "You enjoy being blindfolded a lot, don't you-"

"Stop." The Batter hissed.

Zacharie huffed in amusement. "I didn't think you had it in you. Especially not over this."

"Well... I do." He mumbled awkwardly, hanging his head and slowly fidgeting his hands on the end of the bat. Zacharie walked over to him and gently put one hand on his shoulder, laughing lightly as he jumped.

"Chin up! Maybe it's about time you take the blindfold off." With a sigh, the Batter slowly reached up with one hand and tugged the knot loose, avoiding eye contact as the fabric fell from his face. "Ah ah! You're blushing, amigo~" He laughed, squeezing his shoulder before letting go and taking a few steps back now the Batter could see him again.

"Stop." He whined, holding his hand and the fabric back against his face in shame. "Just give me a minute."

"Take all the time you want. I won't judge." Zacharie smiled.

"I don't- I'm just going to wait it out. Don't get any ideas."

"Of course. I wasn't implying anything else." A laugh slipped out of Zacharie, betraying him immediately. The Batter glared at him, before tossing his bat to the side and lowering himself to the ground, resting his elbows on his knees with his face in his hands. Zacharie busied himself with retrieving the lost ball, cursing himself for not checking where it landed earlier. He looked back at Batter every now and again as he searched, who had shifted a little to rest his forehead on one hand and idly watch Zacharie searching. Eventually he found the ball and threw it into his bag, so he went back to where the Batter had sat himself and sat down next to him.

"Don't-"

"I was just going to ask for the blindfold back." Zacharie smiled. The Batter hesitantly handed it back, still avoiding eye contact, though the heat in his face had cooled down. 

"Sorry about this. I didn't know I would..."

"It's fine," He laughed. "I had fun."

"Me too."

The two sat in silence for a while, Batter picking his bat up and fidgeting with it while Zacharie sat cross legged in front of him, watching intently. 

"So, blindfolds, huh?"

"Zacharie."

"I wasn't going to tease you about it."

"...What were you going to say." Batter sighed.

"Did you know about... this, before today?" 

"No." He snapped, before taking a breath. "Not really. I... hmm."

"Hmm?"

He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes with one hand, thinking through his words. "I haven't been like that in a very long time."

"Arous-"

"Yes." He interrupted, clearly uncomfortable with the mention of it.

"Ah. And what was it about being blindfolded that..."

"I don't know. The lack of control was uncomfortable, but the hypersensitivity... Everything felt so much more... I don't know." Batter sighed, hanging his head again. "Something as simple as you touching my shoulder gave me shivers. I can't explain it."

"It makes sense, it's OK." Zacharie smiled, leaning forwards a little. "Would you want to explore it more?"

"Being blindfolded?"

"Being aroused." Zacharie purred.

"Stop saying it..." The Batter groaned, turning away from Zacharie and mumbling something else.

"What was that, amigo?~"

"Just- I... I guess." He repeated, "If you wanted to."

"I wouldn't be offering it if I didn't."

"You could have meant by myself, or-"

Zacharie laughed, "Do you think I'd have been prying so deep if I didn't want to be involved?"

"I don't know."

"Come on, get up." Zacharie laughed, standing up himself. "I think we should get out of this field and go somewhere a little more... private."

**Author's Note:**

> wanted to post it all at once but im posting the first half to motivate myself to write the second cuz its taking too long


End file.
